Lanyard operated mechanical initiator

ABSTRACT

A split collet, having a lanyard connected thereto, surrounds a ball assembly on the rear of a piston in such a manner than when the lanyard is sufficiently pulled at any angle less than 90* with respect to the principal axis of the piston, the collet will automatically separate from the ball of the piston, releasing the piston. The piston is driven forward by a spring. The piston has a projection on the forward end thereof for puncturing an ampoule or actuating a mechanism. The design of the collet permits the piston to be retracted by pulls in directions other than coaxial.

[ Mar. 4,1975

LANYARD OPERATED MECHANICAL INITIATOR I Inventor: Darrel D. Dolgner, Silver Spring,

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army, Washington, DC

Filed: Oct. 3, 1973 Appl. No.: 403,139

Assignee:

[1.8. Ci. .l 136/90 Int. Cl. H01m 17/00 Field of Search 74/2, 584; 89/1 B, 1.5 D, 89/27 R, 27 F; 102/81.6, 85.6; 124/31, 34,

Primary E.raminerStephen C. Bentley Attorney, Agent, or FirmNathan Edelberg; Robert P. Gibson; Saul Elbaum [57] ABSTRACT A split collet, having a lanyard connected thereto, surrounds a ball assembly on the rear of a piston in such a manner than when the lanyard is sufficiently pulled at any angle less than 90 with respect to the principal axis of the piston, the collet will automatically separate from the ball of the piston, releasing the piston. The piston is driven forward by a spring. The piston has a projection on the forward end thereof for puncturing an ampoule or actuating a mechanism. The de sign of the collet permits the piston to be retracted by pulls in directions other than coaxial.

10 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures RIGHTS OF THE GOVERNMENT The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, or licensed by or for the United States Government for governmental purposes without the payment to the inventor of any royalty thereon.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION l. Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to manual actuation devices utilizing compressed springs, and, more particularly, to a mechanical actuation device having a piston with means attached thereto for breaking an ampoule of a deferred action battery wherein the piston is actuated by compressing a spring upon pulling a lanyard indirectly attached to said piston.

2. Description of the Prior Art Devices similar to that of the invention have heretofore been used in Army units and more particularly have been adapted to be used with a variety of free fall weapons. These prior devices are all designed such that the cylindrical piston and the means attached thereto for actuating by movement of the piston against the spring must move or be pulled coaxially with said piston. There are many situations in which it is desirable to actuate or initiate a device by a force which is either coaxial to the cylindrical piston or sufficient such that it may be pulled at an angle. The following patents serve as an indicia of the prior art in which the actuating force of the initiator is required to have a force component of sufficient magnitude coaxial to said piston:

1. Wells, Safe-Armed Explosive Initiation Device,

US Pat. No. 3,657,958.

2. Travor et al., Cartridge Actuating Device, US.

Pat. No. 3,672,254.

3. Duncan, Pyrotechnic Initiators, US. Pat. No.

4. Temple et al., Firing Mechanism for Explosively Actuated Tools," US. Pat. No. 3,386,334.

Because of the current need in the military of manually actuating various weaponry and combat tools mounted on an aircraft or other vehicle from within the vehicle and because of limited space available on such vehicles, it is desirable to be able to actuate such devices by lanyards which may be pulled at a variety of angles instead of merely coaxially with the piston of said actuation mechanism as described in the above prior art.

It is therefore desirable to employ a mechanism which will permit an actuation device to be armed or operated by pulling a lanyard at any convenient angle.

Consequently, it is an object of this invention to provide a mechanical actuation device which may be operated by a lanyard from a variety of angular positions with only minor increases in the amount of force required for actuation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A mechanical actuation device is provided which utilizes a partially compressed spring which is later fully compressed by a piston to mechanically render a force against another object. The invention permits the piston to compress the spring at any convenient angle less than 90 from the principal axis of the piston. The piston is located in the lower portion of a bore within a housing. A cap is fitted over said housing and utilized to retain the spring in a slightly compressed state between said piston and said cap. The piston has a concentrically connected projection extending through said cap and terminating in a ball which is surrounded by a split collet which fits precisely in the cylindrical bore of said cap. The bore has a smaller diameter at the bottom thereof to retain the collet and ball assembly. An angular pull of a lanyard connected to the split collet by means of rings causes the collet to rotate about the ball and rise through the cylindrical bore of the cap, compressing the spring and increasing the potential energy of the piston such that upon release of the ball from the collet after clearing the bore the piston is pro jected toward the bottom of the bore ofthe housing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects, aspects, uses, and advantages thereof, will clearly appear from the following description and from the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. la is a cross section of an embodiment of the invention along the principal axis.

FIG. 1b is a perspective view of the split collet.

FIG. 2 is a cross section of the embodiment ofthe invention shown in FIG. 1 transverse to the principal axis along the line 22.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention disclosed herein may be understood with respect to its broad aspects as well as its particular details by reference to FIG. la wherein there is shown a cross-section ofan embodiment of the mechanical actuation device in combination with a deferred action ampoule type battery. In particular, the housing 10 has an open bore 19 into which is fitted a hollow piston 20. A cap member 11 fits over the open end of the housing 10 and partially compresses a cylindrical spring 12 between the piston 20 and said cap 11. This partial compression causes a puncturing means 21 attached to the outside face of the piston 20 to partially extend through an opening 22 in the bottom of said bore 19.

Piston 20 further comprises a projecting member 18 concentrically and coaxially attached to the inside thereof and extending through an opening 24 in the center of the cap 11. This opening 24 may be best described as a hole at the bottom of a cylindrical depression 27 in the center of said cap 11. The hole 24 has a diameter smaller than that of the cylindrical depression 27. The inside bottom portion 25 of the cylindrical depression 27 is contoured to closely fit the spherical shape ofthe collet assembly 13 which tits over a ball 14 mounted to the projecting member 18.

As indicated in FIG. 1b, the spherical collet 13 is a hollow sphere which as a fractional portion cut from its bottom leaving a substantially flat surface. The sphere is split substantially in half in a direction transverse or orthogonal to the plane of the surface 25. The inside diameter of the collet 13 is substantially equal to that of the ball 14 thus enabling the ball to be surrounded in sich a manner by the pieces of the collet 13 as to rigidly hold the collet on the ball as long as both are within the cylindrical depression 27 of cap 11. Parallel to the split 26 of the collet 13 are attached two rings 15. The rings 15 are coaxial and one is placed on either side of the split 26 further extending the split therein between.

3- A lanyard 17 is connected through the rings and provides a means by which the collet may be pulled in order to press the piston against the spring 12 and compress said spring 12.

In operation, the lanyard 17 is pulled at any convenient angle which causes the collet 13 to rotate and thereby transfer substantially all of the force of the pull on the lanyard 17 to the ball 14 which in turn causes the piston attached to the projecting member 18 to rise and compress against the spring 12. Once the collet 13 has cleared the cylindrical depression 27 in cap member 11, the collet l3 automatically releases the ball 14 and thereby permits the piston 20 to be projected downward through the bore 19 such that the puncturing means 21 extends through the hole 22 and bursts the ampoule 28 within the power supply 23.

In FIG. 2 is shown a cross section of the invention as illustrated in FIG. 1a along the 2-2 line. The housing 10 is surrounded by the cap member 11. Inside housing 10 is mounted spring 12 and concentric with the spring 12 is the wall of the cylindrical depression 24 of the cap 11 shown in FIG. 2 to be between the collet 13 and the spring 12. The centermost FIG. 14 of FIG. 2 is a crosssection of the metal ball 14 mounted atop the projecting member 18 (see FIG. la) of the piston 20 (see FIG. 10).

It is to be understood that the inventor does not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art pertaining hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A mechanical actuation device comprising a housing having a bore extending thereinto from the open end thereof; a piston positioned at the other end of said housing; a hole located at the other end of said housing beneath said piston; a projecting member centrally connected to said piston; a ball located at the end of said member; a cap having an aperture therein, said cap located on said open end of said housing; a cylindrical depression in said cap; said aperture located in said cylindrical depression; said ball being located in said cylindrical depression; a hollow spherical collet split substantially in half and having a flat face orthogonal to said split; a round hole located in said face and smaller than said ball; said collet located around said ball; a spring located between said cap and said piston; and, two small flat rings, one attached to each portion of 4 said collet.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein said rings are concentrically positioned at a point on said collet opposite said flat face of said collet.

3. The invention of claim 2 further comprising means, connected to said rings, for raising said collet through said cylindrical bore whereby said piston compresses said spring and said collet releases said piston after clearing said cylindrical bore.

4. The invention of claim 3 wherein said spring is slightly compressed.

5. The invention of claim 3 wherein said means is a lanyard.

6. In combination with a deferred action power supply of the type comprising an ampoule and a means for piercing said ampoule, the improvement which comprises a mechanical actuation device comprising a housing having a bore extending thereinto from the open end thereof; a piston positioned at the other end of said housing a connected to said means for piercing; a hole located at the other end of said housing beneath said piston; a projecting member centrally connected to said piston and opposite said means; a ball located at the end of said member; a cap having an aperture therein, said cap located above said open end of said housing; a cylindrical depression in said cap; said aperture located beneath said cylindrical depression: said ball being located in said cylindrical depression: a hollow spherical collet split substantially in half and having a flat fact orthogonal to said split; a round hole located in said face and smaller than said ball; said collet located around said ball; a spring located between said cap and said piston; and, two small flat rings, one attached to each portion of said collet.

7. The invention of claim 6 wherein said rings are concentrically positioned at a point on said collet opposite said flat face of said collet.

8. The invention of claim 7 further comprising means, connected to said rings, for raising said collet through said cylindrical bore whereby said piston compresses said spring and said collet releases said piston after clearing said cylindrical bore.

9. The invention of claim 8 wherein said spring is slightly compressed.

10. The invention of claim 8 wherein said means is a lanyard. 

1. A mechanical actuation device comprising a housing having a bore extending thereinto from the open end thereof; a piston positioned at the other end of said housing; a hole located at the other end of said housing beneath said piston; a projecting member centrally connected to said piston; a ball located at the end of said member; a cap having an aperture therein, said cap located on said open end of said housing; a cylindrical depression in said cap; said aperture located in said cylindrical depression; said ball being located in said cylindrical depression; a hollow spherical collet split substantially in half and having a flat face orthogonal to said split; a round hole located in said face and smaller than said ball; said collet located around said ball; a spring located between said cap and said piston; and, two small flat rings, one attached to each portion of said collet.
 2. The invention of claim 1 wherein said rings are concentrically positioned at a point on said collet opposite said flat face of said collet.
 3. The invention of claim 2 further comprising means, connected to said rings, for raising said collet through said cylindrical bore whereby said piston compresses said spring and said collet releases said piston after clearing said cylindrical bore.
 4. The invention of claim 3 wherein said spring is slightly compressed.
 5. The invention of claim 3 wherein said means is a lanyard.
 6. In combination with a deferred action power supply of the type comprising an ampoule and a means for piercing said ampoule, the improvement which comprises a mechanical actuation device comprising a housing having a bore extending thereinto from the open end thereof; a piston positioned at the other end of said housing a connected to said means for piercing; a hole located at the other end of said housing beneath said piston; a projecting member centrally connected to said piston and opposite said means; a ball located at the end of said member; a cap having an aperture therein, said cap located above said open end of said housing; a cylindrical depression in said cap; said aperture located beneath said cylindrical depression; said ball being located in said cylindrical depression; a hollow spherical collet split substantially in half and having a flat fact orthogonal to said split; a round hole located in said face and smaller than said ball; said collet located around said ball; a spring located between said cap and said piston; and, two small flat rings, one attached to each portion of said collet.
 7. The invention of claim 6 wherein said rings are concentrically positioned at a point on said Collet opposite said flat face of said collet.
 8. The invention of claim 7 further comprising means, connected to said rings, for raising said collet through said cylindrical bore whereby said piston compresses said spring and said collet releases said piston after clearing said cylindrical bore.
 9. The invention of claim 8 wherein said spring is slightly compressed.
 10. The invention of claim 8 wherein said means is a lanyard. 